1. Technical Field
This invention relates to snowmobiles and other transporting and carrying devices for use in offroad conditions such as snow, ice, dirt, sand, and mud, and more particularly to tracked vehicles for use in snow, ice, dirt, sand, and mud, and other offroad conditions which are equipped with an engine and drive means for propelling the vehicle.
2. Background Art
The usefulness of carrying apparatuses and vehicles such as snowmobiles, tractors, carts, and other carriers are well known to those involved in outdoor sports, construction, farming, gardening, and other uses where objects, loads, people, or the like are moved and transported from one place to another.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to power or motorize various vehicles such as snowmobiles, carts, tractors, golf carts, wheelbarrows, and the like by using gasoline powered engines in order to propel the device. However, none of these devices show a feasible and economical vehicle for snow, ice, dirts, mud and other offroad conditions, which may accommodate various attachments, such as skis, snowblowers, augers, chippers, shredders, mixers, stretchers, ice scrapers, augers, plows, or the like, which may be secured to and powered by the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a tracked vehicle for offroad use which operates safely, efficiently, and which is lightweight, strong, balanced, and efficient at carrying and transporting a wide range of load sizes and weights. The tracked vehicle of the present invention includes an accessory attachment valve for attaching various mechanical devices, preferably with hydraulic hoses, to the tracked vehicle. The tracked vehicle of the present invention has high performance capability and possesses sufficient power to drive the vehicle at both slow speeds and high speeds with small, medium or large loads in snow, ice, dirt, sand, mud and other offroad conditions conditions.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims
To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a tracked vehicle for use in snow and ice which preferably includes an accessory attachment valve, comprises, a frame, a first track for driving and control of the tracked vehicle being secured to the frame, and a second drive track for driving and control of the tracked vehicle. A drive engine is mounted on the frame and communicatively linked to the first and second drive track by a drive mechanism. A hydraulic pump is linked to a hydraulic drive motor, the hydraulic pump being operably linked to the second drive track. A throttle mechanism is operably engaged to the drive engine with a hydraulic attachment lever valve secured to the frame. A secondary hydraulic pump is operably linked to the hydraulic attachment lever valve. An accessory hydraulic attachment valve for attaching various mechanical devices, preferably with hydraulic hoses, is secured to the frame and to a secondary hydraulic pump, and may accommodate operable linkage to various devices such as skis, chippers, augers, shredders, plows, mixers, stretchers, wheel attachment devices, snow blowers, ice scrapers and other devices.
The tracked vehicle for snow, ice, dirt, sand, mud and other offroad conditions of the present invention is lightweight, balanced, efficient, and highly effective at allowing a user to operate a wide variety of devices therefrom simply by attaching the device to the hydraulic attachment lever valve.